Group Therapy

I remember it well. The credits were rolling and I was basking in the glow of a great film by Jon Favreau. I thought to myself THIS is how you make a comic book movie. Then, I noticed the lights never came back on. I noticed nobody left the theater. Sure enough, Robert Downey Jr. is walking back on screen as Tony Stark and is met by Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury!

As the dialogue played out, it was revealed the greater intention of Iron Man: to resurrect the Avengers initiative. Fury courting Stark left me clamoring for more. In fact two thoughts went through my head. A) Samuel L. Jackson is Nick Fury. KICK ASS!! B) Having a fully blown Avengers movie with this style of Iron Man would be euphoric!

Fast forward a full movie season and I have to admit I have concerns about such an initiative. Why? Well, I reference the last Wolverine film. It was an ensemble picture that also had me excited. In the end it was a horrible experiment and lacked any true sense of the Wolvie we have all grown to love.

To be honest, G.I.Joe didn’t do well as an ensemble either. Nor did Transformers. However, there are also ensemble movies that worked well. I still liked all the X-Men movies and this year’s Watchmen movie was a slamming good experiment. This all leaves me in a quandary to find out what makes a good ensemble flick and what doesn’t.

Let’s start with Wolverine. It’s still fresh in our minds and was recently released on DVD. Why didn’t it work? I believe in an effort to make sure Wolverine was the center of attention; they really didn’t develop the rest of the characters. I still believe Liev Schreiber was wrong for the role of Sabertooth, and, for some unknown reason, they decided Gambit’s Cajun accent was all of a sudden optional? Mix it with the bad pacing of the film and it was if the rest of the cast (save Wolverine) just wasn’t needed.

G.I. Joe should’ve been a slam dunk as a lesson in an ensemble film. The team has spent decades kicking ass in the world of comic books. There was a ton of material to help the direction of the film. But, for some reason the powers-that-be decided more action and less substance was the key. As my nine-year old likes to say: FAIL!

I researched a few favorite ensemble movies to find out if there is a secret to creating more with a larger cast. Yes, some will say this was an excuse to watch the old Star Wars Trilogy (for which I won’t apologize), but research is research, damn it! I have to be thorough.

In short, I did notice a pattern of success for ensemble films. First, they all have a solid lead story. Many ensembles oftentimes don’t want to have an actual lead actor. Although I believe Luke was the lead over Han in Star Wars, it really doesn’t matter because the story definitely flowed through Luke. The same can be said for the X-Men movies and Watchmen. They all had a common bond. G.I. Joe tried to create a single bond, but failed. Instead it looked as if several characters were all on different missions. The lesson learned? Have a collective goal.

Another aspect of a good ensemble is the ability of the actors to understand your screen time may be limited, but you will have time to make good when your number is called. Jackie Earle Haley nailed this concept as Rorschach in Watchmen. He knew when to blend into the ensemble and he knew when it was time to show his strong understanding of the character in the limited time he had to do so. The same can be said for other icons of screen such as Yoda and Obi-Won.

One final aspect of great ensemble casting is the editing. Yes, I said editing. Take the Fantastic 4 movies. I liked them, but I wanted to love them. It was very scattered. As soon as they would suck me in, they would cut away. As soon as they would set up a joke, they would pause too long afterwards and the joke would die. It was very frustrating.

My main worry about the Avengers movie is that the big players, i.e. Hulk and Iron Man, will vie for screen time and they will fail to make a good team. I realize there are still several parts left to fill and, as of now, the script hasn’t even been discussed, but I think it is a valid suggestion to make sure the elements of a good ensemble are in place BEFORE the script is written. The last thing fans need is for ideas to be thrown together at the last minute in hopes it makes the film better.

Now, I realize sometimes I am a pessimist. I usually have little faith in Hollywood film companies to get the comic book movies correct, however, with the idea of an Avengers movie around the corner I will let myself sit back and bask in the glow of how awesome the movie can become if done correctly. Absolutely amazing!!